World War I, family archives, Pablo Picasso’s Russian wife considered at the Presidential Library

The forgotten heroes of World War I, love story of the great artist, a little-known version of the death of Valery Chkalov - these and other topics were discussed by the participants during the presentation of the new issue of the popular science and history magazine Rodina, which took place in the Presidential Library today on November 22, 2018.

The authors of the publication, representatives of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, librarians and attendees of the libraries of Perm, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Tambov, Penza, Khanty-Mansiysk and Nyagan (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area) took part in the videoconference. In addition, the event at Senate Square, 3 was attended by young guests of the Presidential Library – pupils of school № 9 from Gatchina.

Presenting the eleventh issue in 2018, the chief editor of Rodina, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Igor Kots recalled the main rule of the work of journalists of the publication - not just to describe the course of events, but to show the fate of a living person in the mirror of history.

This principle fully reveals the material "Still alive", dedicated to the heroes of World War I, which has become the main theme of the magazine in November. The authors were able to identify nine officers in a unique huge photograph, where they were captured in full (more than 1,250 lower ranks and officers) of the Life Guards Kexholm Emperor of the Austrian Regiment, which emerged under Peter I. Reader learns a brief history of each of them: military merit in the First World War, participation in the Civil War, etc.

The Presidential Library’s collections contain a lot of materials telling about one of the oldest regiments in the Russian Imperial Army. Rare publications such as “The participation of the Kexholm regiment in the Chesmen maritime campaign of 1769–1774” (1893), the “Kexholm regiment near Rochensalm on August 13, 1789: Based on materials collected by Major General B.V. Adamovich” (1913), "The collection of military historical materials of the Life Guards of the Kexholm Emperor of the Austrian Regiment" (1910) can be "leaf through" in the electronic reading room.

“Pablo and Olga: the artist immortalized her on his canvases, but he was doomed to loneliness” – this was described in the November issue of Rodina by its author, Director General of the Viktor Konetsky Maritime Literary and Art Fund Tatiana Akulova-Konetskaya. The fate of the wife of the famous artist was associated with the family of a marine writer: Olga Khokhlova was a frequent guest in the house of Konetsky, she was friend with sisters, Lyubochka and Matilda, was cordially attached to their mother, Maria Pavlovna.

The writers Mikhail Zoshchenko, Nikolai Gumilev, Ivan Turgenev, Commander-in-Chief Alexei Evert, famous pilot Valery Chkalov, our contemporary - Director of the Research Institute of Emergency Pediatric Surgery and Traumatology, Honored Doctor of Russia Valery Mitish and other famous and unknown persons also became heroes of the new issue of the Rodina magazine. .

Also, the reader will be able to see the life of Petrograd during the World war I with the eyes of Prince Lev Urusov, “to walk” through the protected area “Basegi” in Perm Territory, learn how to play charades correctly, and also learn the history of the letter E and many other interesting information. The traditional “Cuisine of Rodina” column tells about a cult place for Moscow’s artistic bohemia, the Krysha cafeteria, opened at the height of World War I, and introduces a set of Nepman’s dinner dishes.

The presentations of the latest issues of popular science and history magazine Rodina in the Presidential Library have become traditional. They are held monthly from April 2017 within the framework of the cooperation agreement between the Presidential Library and the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which was signed at the end of 2016. Joint events are regularly held in the building on Senate Square, 3: multimedia exhibitions dedicated to the Rodina, video lectures with the participation of the authors of the historical magazine. Digitized copies of a popular science publication are available on the Presidential Library’s portal.